To whom it may concern

Friday, 20 February 2015

The following incident from the life of George Müller is related by Mr. Inglis, who heard the story from the captain of the ship with whom Müller prayed.

When I first came to America, thirty-one years ago. I crossed the Atlantic with the captain of a steamer who was one of the most devoted men I ever knew, and when we were off the banks of Newfoundland be said to me:

"Mr. Inglis, the last time I crossed here, five weeks ago, one of the most extraordinary things happened which, has completely revolutionized the whole of my Christian life. Up to that time I was one of your ordinary Christians. We had a man of God on board, George Müller, of Bristol. I had been on that bridge for twenty-two hours and never left it. I was startled by some one tapping me on the shoulder. It was George Müller:

"'Captain, he said, 'I have come to tell you that I must be In Quebec on Saturday afternoon.' This was Wednesday.

"'It is impossible,' I said.

"'Very well, if your ship can't take me, God will find some other means of locomotion to take me. I have never broken an engagement in fifty seven years.'

"’I would willingly help you. How can I? I am helpless.'

"'Let us go down to the chart-room and pray.'

"I looked at that man of God, and I thought to myself, what lunatic asylum could that man have come from? I never heard of such a thing.

"'Mr. Müller,' I said, 'do you know how dense the fog is?'

"'No,' he replied, 'my eye is not on the density of the fog, but on the living God who controls every circumstance of my life.'

"He got down on his knees and prayed one of the most simple prayers. I muttered to myself: 'That would suit a children's class where the children were not more than eight or nine years old.' The burden of his prayer was something like this: 'O Lord, if it is consistent with Thy will, please remove this fog in five minutes. You know the engagement you made for me in Quebec Saturday. I believe it is your will.'

"When he finished. I was going to pray, but he put his hand on my shoulder and told me not to pray. "First, you do not believe He will; and second. I believe He has. And there is no need whatever for you to pray about it.' I looked at him, and George Müller said..

"'Captain. I have known my Lord for forty-seven years, and there has never been a single day that I have failed to gain an audience with the King. Get up, captain, and open the door, and you will find the fog is gone.' I got up, and the fog was gone!

"You tell that to some people of a scientific turn of mind, and they will say, 'That is not according to natural laws.' No, it is according to spiritual laws. The God with whom we have to do is omnipotent. Hold on to God's omnipotence. Ask believingly. On Saturday afternoon, I may add, George Müller was there on time."

Friday, 13 February 2015

George Mueller cared for orphans, in Bristol, in the 1800s. His life was marked by amazing answers to prayer. As can be seen in the following story.

One morning, all the plates and cups and bowls on the table were empty. There was no food in the larder and no money to buy food. The children were standing, waiting for their morning meal, when Müller said, “Children, you know we must be in time for school.” Then lifting up his hands he prayed, “Dear Father, we thank Thee for what Thou art going to give us to eat.”

There was a knock at the door. The baker stood there, and said, “Mr. Müller, I couldn’t sleep last night. Somehow I felt you didn’t have bread for breakfast, and the Lord wanted me to send you some. So I got up at 2 a.m. and baked some fresh bread, and have brought it.”

Mr. Müller thanked the baker, and no sooner had he left, when there was a second knock at the door. It was the milkman. He announced that his milk cart had broken down right in front of the orphanage, and he would like to give the children his cans of fresh milk so he could empty his wagon and repair it.

One time, when I was a pastor in Richhill, a woman rang to
ask if her brother could speak in our church.It was short notice and I knew nothing about him.I should have known about him, because she
had given me a video of him preaching, but I had not watched it.

I said that he could give his testimony, rather than preach,
and when I meet him I told him to keep it to about seven minutes.

He started off well, telling us how God had rescued him from
alcoholism. That was good.But as he continued my suspicions about him
grew.He ended his testimony by saying
that since he had become a Christian he had not even had a cold since he had
come to faith.That sounded a little too
‘health and wealth’ for me.I was glad
that I had not given him longer to talk.

The next morning I decided to watch the video I had of this
man preaching.There he was in a little
church in Uganda.He happened to be
wearing the same suit that he wore in Richhill.He looked at the small congregation of people and declared, ‘I have an
anointing, and because of this anointing what I say will come to be.I don’t care whether you have Aids or TB,
tomorrow you will be well.’

I was appalled by the false hope that he gave those dear
people.The next morning there would be
people who would wake up assuming that they were well, while they were still
sick.Perhaps some of them would
foolishly stop taking their medication.Some would later wonder what they had done wrong that resulted in not
receiving the healing he promised them.

The primary problem in that speaker is that he did not know
what time we are in.Let me explain.

As we read Jeremiah we should keep three periods of time in
mind.Firstly, there is the time between
Jeremiah speaking and the first coming of Jesus (horizon one).Then, there is the time between Jesus’ first
coming and his return (horizon two).Finally, there is the eternal reality that starts with Jesus’ return
(horizon three).What we will see is
that the prophecies in these chapters point to blessings that are experienced,
in different ways, in each of these periods of time.

These four chapters of Jerimiah (30-34) are referred to as
‘The Book of Consolation’.They look
forward to future blessing.We are going
to look at three of these blessings, in the light of our three horizons.

1. 'I will heal your wounds' (30:17)

When the Babylonians came and conquered Judah and Jerusalem
there was much death and injury. There would have been many wounded and
grieving people. But God promises a future
time when 'I will restore to you your health and heal your wounds' (30:17).See, I will bring them from the land of the
north and gather them from the ends of the earth.Among them will be the blind and the lame,
expectant mothers and women in labour; a great throng will return’ (31:8). '...
I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security'
(33:6).How does this prophecy find its
fulfilment in our three horizons?

Firstly, during horizon one, a future generation returned to
Judah and Jerusalem from exile in Babylon.We see that in books like Ezra and Nehemiah.

This talk of the healing of wounds surely brings our
thoughts to the coming of Jesus and the ministry he has entrusted to the
church.Jesus was a healer.Jesus commissioned the church to pray for
people’s healing.The apostle Paul talks
of gifts of healings (1 Corinthians 12:9).James instructed the elders to pray over those who were sick that they
may be healed (James 5:14-15).

But we know that faithful people still get sick and
die.Sometimes God answers our prayers
by saying ‘no’.The healings that we see
now are really just the first-fruits of the time to come.When Jesus returns (horizon three), 'there
will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things
has passed away’ (Rev. 21:4).The
preacher in Richhill was teaching as if all the blessings of the age to come
were to be experienced now.

2. 'David their king' (30:9)

In these chapters there is repeated mention of a descendent
of David who will be established as their king.‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout
from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land' (33:15).

However, this promise was not fulfilled in horizon one.When the exiles returned from Babylon, they
were not given a king in the line of David—they were ruled by a series of
governors.The returned exiles are left
waiting for future events that will bring this prophecy to fulfilment.

Then, Jesus comes (horizon two), born in Bethlehem (because
he was a descendant of David), and called ‘Son of David.’But while his rule has been inaugurated it
has yet fully consummated.Even though
we live in a world that ignores Jesus, his teaching and his offer of salvation,
we await that time when every knee will bow and confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord (Isaiah 45:23 and Philippians 2:10).The fullness of the promise is found with horizon three.

3. 'A new covenant' (31:31)

There are lovely pictures of God in these chapters. God is a husband who woos his faithless bride,
a father who goes searching for his rebellious son, a shepherd who gathers his
flock and a mother who weeps for her children.

We are told that God is motivated by compassion, 'I will
restore their fortunes and have compassion on them' (33:26), '... I will
forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more' (31:34), 'I will
cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive
all their sins of rebellion against me' (33:8).Not only does God promise to forgive his people, he promises to
transform them: even though they had prostituted themselves with foreign gods,
he will call them 'Virgin Israel' (31:4).

There is talk of a new covenant.Before he sent the people into exile, he
ignored their cries because he knew that they were insincere.Now we read the people saying, literally,
‘cause me to turn and I will turn, for you are the Lord my God’ (31:18).God does cause people to truly repent, and he
always responds to genuine repentance.

This talk of a new covenant brings our minds to the ministry
of Jesus (horizon two).During the first
Lord’s Supper, Jesus took the cup and declared, ‘this is my blood of the covenant,
which is poured out for many’ (Mark 14:24).This covenant involves the power to change, ‘I will put my law in their
mind and write it on their hearts … they will know me, from the least to the
greatest … For I will forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more’
(31:33-34).

In our church’s statement of faith we declare that those who
are truly born again are kept by the power of God.The true Christian may fall, fail and
backslide at times, but God ensures that they ultimately remain in the
faith.One of the strongest arguments
for this doctrine, called ‘the perseverance of the saints’, is found here in
Jeremiah: 'I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop
doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never
turn away from me' (32:40).

Of course we still await horizon three.For in this live we do battle with the world,
the flesh and the devil.We are tempted
every hour.It is as if we have an enemy
within us, in the form of our sinful nature.We know the pain of defeat and the sorrow of letting god down.But when Jesus returns the battle will be
over.Our hearts will be made perfectly
pure.We will never have to listen to
the lies of the devil again.We will no
longer be tempted.We will no longer be
able to sin.We will enjoy a life of
perfect moral purity.Come, Lord Jesus!

Conclusion

'Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance
about what we do not see' (Hebrews 11:1).Faith looks forward, in joyful anticipation, of what is to come.

Jeremiah has been put in prison because the king, Zedekiah,
does not like what he is saying.Hanamel, Jeremiah’s cousin, comes to visit him in prison.

Hanamel wants Jeremiah’s help.He has run into financial problems and wants
Jeremiah to buy a field off him.As a
near relative Jeremiah has an obligation to do this.But this is not a good deal for
Jeremiah.Jeremiah is in prison, and may
never get to enjoy the field.At the
time of asking the Babylonians are at the edge of Jerusalem, and have probably
trampled all over that field.This field
is a worthless asset.

But God tells Jeremiah to go ahead and buy the field.Jeremiah was then to place the deeds of that
field in a clay jar.These deeds were to
be a symbol of hope.They were about to
go into exile, but these deeds were not useless, for a future generation would
return and the landed would be traded again.These deeds are a promise that there will be a brighter future.

As we live in horizon two (between the first and second
coming of Jesus) we know that the best has yet to come.We are a people of the ‘now’ and the ‘not
yet’.We live in the beautiful light
that shines from the ministry of Jesus.We enjoy the gift of his indwelling-presence.Yet even those who have passed on in the
faith, who are in paradise with Jesus, eagerly await his return, when they will
see the arrival of the new creation, and find themselves clothed in their resurrection
bodies.

As we look forward let us never forget that the greatest
blessing of the coming age will be the uninhibited fellowship with God.Now we see only a reflection as in a mirror,
then we shall see face to face.Now I
know in part, then I shall be fully known (1 Corinthian 13:12).Then we will live in a city that does not
need a sun—for the glory of God gives it light (21:23).Now, as we live in joyful anticipation, we
are to get ready for that future by learning to love and enjoy God more and
more!

Monday, 2 February 2015

This book opens with God’s people in the wilderness preparing
to enter the Promised Land—do you get a feeling deja-vous?We’ve been here before—at the beginning of
Numbers.However in Numbers a whole
generation of adults failed to trust God and enter the land, so they died in
the desert.Now we are preparing for
entry again.

On the plains of Moab, by the river Jordan, Moses addresses
them before he dies.In three sermons he
gives them God’s instructions.He urges
them not to blow in like their parent’s generation had, in the light of all
that God had done they are to trust and obey.

Sermon 1 ‘The One and Only’ (chapters 1:5-4):

The first and shortest sermon begins in chapter 1 verse
5.In this Moses spends a lot of time
reminding them of what has been happening during their time in the
wilderness.Despite the fact that God
had preformed miraculous signs among them, the people had refused to believe
that he could conquer the inhabitants of Canaan.So that generation did not enter the
land.‘Just like you might send a
disobedient child to his or her room, God sent a disobedient Israel into the
desert to think over their “attitude problem”’ .God did however care for them in the
wilderness (2:7), and strengthened them so that, after the period of
discipline, the next generation could receive the Promised Land.

Moses reminds them of these things to highlight what God is
like.To show them how God does
things—so that they might know who it is that they are dealing with.In chapter 4 comes the most important thing
they are to know about God—he is ‘the One and Only’: . . . ‘the LORD is God;
besides him there is no other’ (NIV) (4:35).This is not only the central message of the first sermon—this is the central
message of the whole book.

Sermon 2 Part 1:‘God
who takes the initiative’ (chapters 5-7):

The second sermon, which begins in chapter 5, is the longest
by far.It has, however, a simple
structure: after telling them more about the LORD, Moses focuses on how they
should respond to him.With this in mind
we are going to divide the sermon in two.

It opens by reminding them that their relationship with God
is the result of God’s initiative.It
was God who rescued them from Egypt (5:6)—and in so doing made them into a
nation; and it was God who initiated a covenant with this new nation at Sinai
(Horeb) (5:2).

As in Exodus, the Ten Commandments are introduced here with
a reminder of what God has already done for them (5:6).Their obedience to these commands is not what
will save them.

God has already saved them!Their obedience is to be their response to his salvation.

But why did God save them?What prompted him to take the initiative?Deuteronomy 7:6-9:

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God.The LORD your God has chosen you out of all
the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured
possession.

The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you
because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of
all peoples.But it was because the LORD
loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you
out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the
power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.Know,
therefore, that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his
covenant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his
commands. (NIV)

Did God choose them because they were an impressive nation
of people?No!Quite the opposite, they were
insignificant.He simply loved them
because he loved them, and because he is the God who is faithful to his
covenant promises.

When we think of our salvation we remember that God took the
first step.He rescued us from slavery—a
second Exodus, on the cross freeing us from slavery to sin.He has loved us even though we have done
nothing to deserve that love.Rom. 5:8 .
. ‘God demonstrated his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us’ (NIV).He did not
set his love on us because we were impressive or faithful, we were weak and
rebellious.To the Christian he says, ‘I
love you not because you are better, or wiser, or more attractive, or more
impressive than anyone else.I simply
love you because in grace I choose to love you.Nothing can separate you from my love.’

Sermon 2: Part 2, Response: ‘Trust and Obey’ (Chapters 6-28)

Ch. 6 tells us that there is really only one fundamental
response that Israel should make to the LORD—to love him.Verses 4-5, Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God,
the LORD is one [he is the one and only].Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with
all your strength’ (NIV).They are to
love him with every fibre of their being.

God has demonstrated his awesome love for them.He has been committed to them through thick
and thin.Despite the stubbornness of
his people he has stuck with them.Yes,
God disciplined them—he did it to wake them up to themselves.He never stopped wanting the best for
Israel.That is biblical love.It is essentially commitment.Love is not just a warm, fuzzy feeling,
although that may be a part of it.Love
is primarily a deliberate expression of loyalty.

The remainder of the second sermon spells out the behaviour
that is to demonstrate their love for the LORD.Their love is to be shown in trust and obedience.

Israel’s first attempt to enter the Promised Land had ended
in disaster because they had rebelled against God and refused to enter.Moses points out that what they had been
lacking was trust and obedience (see Duet. 9:23-24).As a result they spent forty years in the
wilderness.Deuteronomy contains a great
deal of instruction about how that wilderness experience should have taught them
the importance of trust and obedience.

For example in chapter 8, Moses points to LORD’s provision
of manna.It should have taught them
that God can be trusted.Every day they
had to trust God to feed them, and not once had he failed them.Now as they prepared to enter the land they
were to trust God, and once in the land—enjoying its luxuries, they were not to
forget that everything comes from God.

At the start of chp.11, Moses takes another lesson they
should have learned from their time in the wilderness—a lesson to teach them
the importance of obeying God.Dathan
and Abiram treated God with contempt and were literally swallowed up by the
earth (see Numbers 16:1-35).Through
such events God reminds the people that obedience is important—as is spelt out
in the rest of that chapter.

The rest of the second sermon is heavy going.It contains lots of specific ways they are to
obey God once in the Promised Land.Their diversity reminds us that every aspect of life is relevant to
God.Some of them are extensions of the
Ten Commandments, applying their principles for a new setting.Many are designed to be a reminder of God’s
absolute holiness.

But what about us, are we to follow all the commands that
are given here?We have looked at this
already in our Bible overview.The laws
Moses gave to Israel were for the old covenant, not the new.Christians are no longer under the law (e.g.
Rom. 6:14).

However, that does not mean that these verses are
irrelevant.When we read them we should
look behind the law and consider what aspect of God’s character it is referring
to.For example, many of the laws relate
to God’s concern for the needy—as we read them we remember that God is
merciful.

One last thing about obedience before we move on to the
third sermon: Israel was to keep these laws out of love for God.This was not supposed to be a dry, cold,
legalism.This was to be a labour of
love.In the same way, as Christians, we
are to obey God out of love for him.God
has saved us, he has made us his people, and in response we ought to love him
with thankful hearts.And our love
should be show itself in obedience.As
Jesus said, ‘If you love me you will obey my commands’ (John 14:15).

Sermon 3: ‘Happily ever after?’(Chapters 29-33):

As we reach the third and last sermon the unimaginable is
about to happen—Moses is going to die.He was the leader God used to bring them out of Egypt, who led them
while they were in the wilderness.In
preparation for Moses’ death Joshua is endorsed as his successor (31:1-8), and
the things that God had told Moses are written down (31:9-13).

In this last sermon Moses faces them with a choice.It is a choice that all of Deuteronomy has
been presenting to them.Are they going
to follow God when they enter the Promised Land?It’s a choice between life and death; between
God’s way and their own way.

If they choose God’s way it will be like Eden all over
again—they will be God’s people, in God’s place, enjoying God’s blessing.If they choose to go their own way it will be
like the Fall all over again. As Adam and Eve were removed from the garden, so
they will be removed from the Promised Land (see chapter 28).

In the last chapters we see what Israel’s choice will be.
Again they will choose not to follow him.Continue reading through the Old Testament and you’ll see what
happens.We read of continued rebellion,
idolatry, corrupt kings, and civil war until—in line with his warning in
Deuteronomy—God tears Israel out of the Promised Land (first by sending the
Assyrians and then the Babylonians to conquer and displace them—see 1 and 2
Kings).

So a book that began with such hope—a new generation about
to enter the Promised Land, ends in disappointment—Israel will mess it up
again!It leaves us with questions:
‘what can be done to make a people who are obedient?’ ‘Is there any way that
sin can finally be dealt with?’

These questions point us to Jesus.For on the cross Jesus broke the grip of sin
in our lives.On the cross Jesus opened
up the way for us to be forgiven by God and become his obedient children.Moreover, Jesus’ followers have the Spirit
living within them, enabling us to put to death our sinful nature.

Conclusion:

The LORD is the one and only.Who or what else is there that should command
our greatest loyalty?

The LORD is the gracious God, who rescued his people from
slavery in Egypt.Therefore Israel’s
fundamental response to him is to be one of grateful love.A love that was to be demonstrated by
trusting him and obeying him!

The LORD has rescued us from something worse than slavery in
Egypt—slavery to sin.Therefore our
fundamental response to him is to be one of grateful love.A love demonstrated by trusting and obeying.This is a response we can make because Jesus
has given us a fresh start and a fresh heart!

Extra notes:

Circumcision of heart points to new covenant
(10:16)

The purging of evil prefigures purging of evil
from church (1 Cor. 5:13) and final consummation (Rev. 21:8)

The curse anticipates the curse being dealt with
by Jesus (21:23 and Galatians 3:13)

Uniqueness of Moses prefigures uniqueness of
Christ (34:10 and Acts:22-26)

Monday, 26 January 2015

By the time we come to Numbers God’s people have experienced
some amazing things.They have seen how
God delivered them from Egypt.They had
walked through the parted sea and watched as God drowned their pursuers.They had been fed manna in the
wilderness.They had been delivered from
the Amalekites.

Now
they are preparing to enter Canaan.This
should be an exciting time for them.God
has demonstrated that his power and his faithfulness, surely they will trust
him and obey, taking the land that he has promised.If only things worked out so well!

Preparation for entry: (Chapters 1-10)

On the first anniversary of the Exodus the Tabernacle was
erected (Exodus 40:17), a fortnight later the Passover had been celebrated
(Numbers 9:1-3), and a fortnight later again a census was taken.Numbers takes its name from the censuses that
are recorded in it.

We see this first census in chapter 1.Note that this census is of all the men
twenty years or over, who would be able to serve as soldiers.This is preparation for war—the rabble that
had emerged from Egypt is beginning to look like an impressive army.Three weeks later the march begins.The Tabernacle is dismantled and God marches
before them in a pillar of cloud (Numbers 10:11-12).

How are things looking?Things are looking good!

Entry Postponed: chapters 10-19

However, within hours of setting out the people start
grumbling.They complain about the
conditions God was making them endure—especially with regards food and
water.They refuse to accept the leaders
he has provided.Most seriously, despite
all the evidence of God’s power that they have witnessed as he delivered them
from Egypt, they will not trust that he is able to bring them into the land.

Moses had sent out spies to explore the place.They returned with fruit proving that it was
indeed ‘a land flowing with milk and honey’, but the spies added that in their
view the inhabitants were invincible (see chapter 13).At this report the people wept.Two of the spies, Caleb and Joshua, urged
them not to disobey the LORD or fear the people of the land (14:5-9).But it was no use, indeed the people talked
of stoning them.

The people had treated the LORD with contempt, they had
refused to believe in him despite the miraculous signs he had performed among
them (14:11), and so God’s judgement fell upon them for their rebellion.None of the adults of that generation, except
for Caleb and Joshua, would enter the Promised Land.For forty years they wondered in the wilderness,
and there they died.

What has happened God’s promise?In faithfulness to his promise he does not
abandon it but, because of their unbelief, it is postponed.

Preparation for entry ‘again’: chapters 20-36

It would seem that by chapters 20 and 21 all the older and
unbelieving generation had died.The
census of chapter 26 confirms this.So
at the end of Numbers we are again getting ready for entry into the land.In preparation we see discussions on such
things as inheritance issues—for when the people are settled, and the urgent
question of who will succeed Moses and lead the people into the Promised Land
is answered with the appointment of Joshua.In these chapters God’s promises again come to the fore.We see this in the story of Balaam.

Balaam is hired by the king of Moab to curse the advancing
Israelites, but Balaam finds he is unable to do anything but bless them, even
quoting God’s promises to Abraham in the process.Here is a pagan prophet incapable of
nullifying God’s promise.The Moabites,
standing between Israel and Canaan, are not able to stop its fulfilment.

Numbers and the New Testament:

In both Matthew (4:1-11) and Luke (4:1-13) a parallel is
seen between Jesus’ forty days in the wilderness and Israel’s forty years in
the desert.The temptations that Jesus
faced were almost identical to those faced by Israel—relating to food,
protection and idolatry.But Jesus did
not give in to the temptations.He
responds to the devil by quoting passages from Deuteronomy—passages that were
dealing with Israel’s wilderness experience.Jesus is the new Israel, where the old Israel failed.

Amongst John’s use of Numbers is the story of the bronze
snake in the desert, recorded in Numbers 21:4-9.Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the
desert, we read in John 3, so the Son of man must be lifted up (a reference to
the cross and his exaltation), that everyone who believes in him may have
eternal life (John 3:14-15).

In the New Testament epistles (the letters) this time in the
desert stands as a great warning to us.As we have seen, despite being miraculously delivered from Egypt, and
daily evidences of God providing for their needs, Israel refused to believe and
rebelled against their Saviour.God’s
judgements against them are a warning for us.In a passage that draws heavily from Numbers Paul writes, these things
occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they
did’ (see 1 Corinthians 10:1-13).Vaughan Roberts expands, ‘If we have faith in Christ, we too have been
set free from slavery (to sin, not to Egypt) by a Passover sacrifice (of Jesus,
not a lamb), and we have been set on a journey to the Promised Land (heaven,
not Canaan).We must make sure that we
do not fall because of sin and unbelief, but that we keep on trusting God until
we reach the destination.’

Extra notes on
Numbers:

Redemption of firstborn (who would have died
in the Passover).Firstborn are replaced
by Levities and offering for extra 273.See Numbers 3.

Friday, 23 January 2015

Andrew Wilson asks, 'How can any thinking person choose God over science?' He answers by suggesting four scientific facts that point to the probability of the Christian story over the atheist story. They are:
(1) the sudden appearance of something out of nothing,
(2) the emergence of order out of chaos,
(3) the emergence of life from non-living matter,
(4) the emergence of consciousness.

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

David Robertson lists a number of things that atheists believe about Christianity:

1. Christianity is a belief that's equivalent to a fairy story. It is based on faith, which is defined as belief without, or contrary to, the evidence.
2. The Bible is a primatial book written by illiterate desert shepherds who reflect the horrendous morality of their barbaric culture.
3. Christians only believe because of their parents or predominant culture.
4. Christians are intolerant bigoted fanatics and a bit dumb.
5. Christians and the church are anti-science.
6. Christianity is based on revelation, not reason.
7. Christians are trapped, repressed and need to be set free.
8. Christianity is the "regressive" position for society, a return to the dark ages.
9. Some Christians do good things but it is in spite of, rather than because of, their Christianity. Religion is seen as the root of all evil.
10. Jesus is unnecessary.
11. Suffering proves that the God of the. Bible does not exist.
12. The Christian belief in the afterlife is pie in the sky when you die, and results in people wasting their lives on earth.

About Me

I am married to Caroline and I am father to Anya, Ronan and Sian. I am a Christian by the grace of God which is made available through the cross of Christ. I serve as pastor in Limerick Baptist Church.